Sheffield is a beautiful location for the 2026 UKAIS conference and consortium, offering strong connections to the rest of the world through its transportation links. Sheffield is geographically in the middle of England, a hub for train travel within the UK. There are direct train links to Sheffield from major UK cities and airports, including London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Edinburgh, while a direct train links Manchester International Airport with Sheffield.

Venue

The Information School at the University of Sheffield (soon to be the School of Information, Journalism and Communication) is an active member of the iSchools network and is the number one ranked LIS department in the world, for the 5th consecutive year running, according to the QS rankings 2025. The Faculty of Social Sciences hub is located in a relatively new building, the Wave. This is a purpose built modern and very sustainable building. It has a number of large lecture theatres, workrooms and break out classrooms and spaces. It also has a large entry atrium which would be excellent for networking tea/coffee breaks and lunch. Various types of accommodation are available quite close by and so a range of options would be available to delegates. Equally the options for the conference dinner would include more modest opportunities in the dining room of the award winning Student Union, through to more lavish in-town restaurants.